


History is Silent NowaDays

by RandomGuygoesviral



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast), The Adventure Zone Amnesty
Genre: Angst, As of ep 26: this fic is no longer cannon compliant!, F/F, F/M, Fan Made Abomination, Fan Made Monster Hunt, Fan Made arc, Heavy Angst, M/M, Monster of the Week, Rated teen for language and gore, Slow Build, TAZ Amnesty, The Adventure Zone Amnesty - Freeform, The first chapter is probably the shortest one, new abomination
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2019-12-27 00:52:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18293543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomGuygoesviral/pseuds/RandomGuygoesviral
Summary: 1999 and 2019. They were exactly twenty years apart.Maybe that's why things got so bad again.When someone goes missing, everyone's first thought jumps to the worst, right? Were they murdered? Kidnapped?So how come, for the Pine Guard, their first thought was even worse?





	1. Lost Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm awful about finishing stories but I'm going to try really hard this time I promise. This chapter will, in theory, be the shortest one I write. I actually have more written than where it cuts off, I was just editing and realized that I'd written a good cut off point and I used that to my advantage. So I know that The Moth That Came in From the Cold has used the "abomination the Pine Guard never beat" thing before but... I had an idea and for it to work I had to! I'll also be using it in a very different way, so hng.  
> On a slightly different note: I mentioned a character named Wybie several times this chapter. Wybie is an oc, obviously. I wrote him to give Jake some friends before the Hornets. I've actually mentioned him in my Hollice fic! I hope the inclusion of ocs wasn't too distracting!  
> As always! I feed on feedback so tell me your thoughts in them there comments!

The year was 1999. 

People were dead, and the sun was setting on Kepler, West Virginia.

\----

The year was 2019. And in the Monongahela forest sat a quaint log cabin affectionately named the Amnesty Lodge. Sheets of rain poured from the sky, hitting the Evergreens and flooding the growing buds of the Maples. Puddles filled next to tree roots, flooding out moles, worms, and the unfortunate rabbit. Though, to be frank, the ground was flooding in general. Water spilled from leaves and there was the marsh of overflow in the soil. Any person who dared to be out during this storm would be ankle deep in mud, drenched head to toe no matter how they had covered up. 

An unfortunate fellow, belonging to Amnesty Lodge, was stuck in just that situation. He appeared to be a young adult, hair a soft blond. It would probably be voluminous on any normal day, but it was currently matted to his scalp from the storm.

The male had been out to check on some of the larger wildlife. By no means was that a thing he’d do often. However, with the flooding, he’d opted to go. Trudging through the swampy forest, he was blissfully unaware of the fate soon to befall him.

There was a flash of lightning and a nearby tree sparked with a fire. Of course, the flame flickered out just as quickly as it appeared. The trees were all far too damp to catch. Still: the lightning set the male on edge for good reason. Just about anything even slightly abnormal was doing that to him and others with the same knowledge as him. It was almost a full moon two months after, well, something. It wouldn’t be smart to even think it- just in case.

For a moment, the rain slowed. Just for a moment, no more than a few seconds. That, however, was just enough time to catch a glance of a figure in front of him. Gangly and long, impossible to explain. Humanoid, but not quite. Something about it seemed… familiar. Familiar in a dark, twisted sort of way.

The sun was rising in Kelper, West Virginia. Jake Coolice had gone missing. 

\----

Aubrey was in the lobby of Amnesty Lodge, pacing. Her rabbit, Doctor Harris Bonkers (Ph.D), was hoping beside her in time with her steps. Laid across one of the arm chairs was Dani, flipped on her stomach and watching the fiery girl walk. The air in that corner was tense, stressed. In fact: most of the Lodge was like that. Thick with worry. 

Someone was missing. Even when he was mad… he’d never just walk out on them. Jake Coolice was too friendly for that, he’d never been able to hold a grudge to save his life. Everytime he did try resulted in a pouty sorry and a hug. The guy couldn’t even be mad at the Hornets. It was absolutely  _ not _ like him to just vanish without a word.

Mama had left a missing persons report up at the sheriff's office. No one had seen him for roughly eighteen hours at that point. With Jake that was long enough to warrant something so drastic. Hell, ten hours was suspicious. It was so quiet that it was unnerving. The Lodge always had a pleasant buzz of life to it, a soft hum of family. That was gone now, left and replaced by a silent yet resolute panic. Nothing about it was right.

“What if he’s hurt Dani?” Aubrey asked after what seemed like an eternity,” What if he’s stuck out there in the shitty weather?”

It took the other girl a long moment to respond,” I… don’t know Aubs. I don’t think I want to know, to be honest.”

And then it was silent again. Then it was silent for another minute, then another, two minutes turned to five, and five turned to thirty… thirty to forty five. Time ticked on and on, and it was silent. Completely silent aside from the chitter of a rabbit and the sound of rain pittering outside. It seemed as though it was about to pick up again. No one was aware of that though, not really. 

Shortly after the horrible quietness had stretched on for an hour, Ned Chicane walked into the Lodge. A few minutes after that Duck Newton did the same. Aubrey had stopped pacing at that point and was now sitting on the couch with Dani, their hands intertwined. Finally, after the never ending silence, the world buzzed with noise once again. 

“Great!” Mama half shouted, barreling into the front room and all but grabbing and dragging the Pine Guard off,” It is basement time y’all! It is time for us-” she pointed at Aubrey-” to go figure out what in the high hell is goin’ on here!” 

Ned and Duck seemed almost equally bewildered as Aubrey rocked to her feet, giving Dani’s hand one final squeeze. The girls seemed to linger just a moment too long. This was made even more clear as Mama cleared her throat and gestured to the basement door. The Lodge had gone from tense to energized in only the few moments it took to get the three down.

Barclay was standing somewhere in the middle of the basement and was tapping his foot expectantly. There was a large sheet of paper laid over an old table as well as some (possibly dried out) markers laid on top of it. As Mama and the trio got to the bottom of the steps, Barclay let out a gruff sigh. Moira, the ghost, was not playing piano as usual. Instead: she was sitting (floating?) in her Sylvain form right near the disgruntled man. She seemed to be preoccupied in the depths of her thoughts. 

“So…” Ned drawled, taking a few steps into the musty cement room,” What are we up against this time? And: why are we all so quiet, my friends?”

Mama let out a long breath, rubbing the base of her nose,” Someone went missin’ last night. And the timin’ is way too convenient to be some damn coincidence.”

The residents of the Lodge exchanged glances as she spoke, all their expressions somber. There was truly some flair missing from Amnesty and it affected them all. It was just this spark that had fled all of their eyes in almost a unison. Just this overarching feeling of uneasiness. That feeling that something was wrong.  

As she was about to speak again, Duck cut in,” Well who went missing?”

“Jake,” Aubrey said duly, followed by a resolute nod from Barclay. 

“Well, did you know where our snowboarding compadre was going?”

“He left to go check on some shit Ned! I don’t know where he went exactly! All I know is that the newest Bombom is almost a hundred percent on our collective asses and now Jake is gone!”

“Now now,” Mama cut in,” it ain’t gonna do us no good to get inta’ a yelling match. We just gotta figure this out.” 

Aubrey puffed out her cheeks and looked down, letting out a long breath. Everything was more than a little bit stressed about her currently. She seemed pretty off compared to her normal fiery self. Of course, having a friend go missing was a relatively stressful experience. It would be cruel to blame her for being upset

“So… all we know is that this new monster that is trying to kill us might have taken Jake Coolice,” said Duck,” If this even is an abomination we’re dealin’ with.”

Moira looked up from studying the paper on the table,” No, It’s an abomination. I can assure you of that.”

Everyone’s attention shifted to the ghostly woman. An inaudible question hung in the air, and it didn’t seem like one she was willing to answer. The cold temperature of the basement raised a few degrees as the silence thickened. No one noticed. Even if someone did, no one said a word. Moira cleared her throat, straightening up her form. She seemed hesitant to speak up.

“Mama… Barclay. You can’t tell me that you don’t see it. It’s been twenty years almost exactly,” her voice went quiet,” we… we never beat that thing. You do know that, right? It took him and then it vanished. April fifteenth, ‘99.”

“What? What do you mean  _ him _ ?” Yelled Aubrey, and this time everyone noticed the heat,” What do you mean  _ it _ ? Moira what are you even saying?!”

Mama, Moira, and Barclay exchanged glances. There was a spark of recognition in their eyes. Slamming his fist on the table, Barclay shook his head fiercely. He seemed angry, but in an inward sort of way. Not angry at anyone there… just mad at himself. It was frightening to see such a calm and pleasant man upset like that. 

“Moira!” His voice went strained and he paused,” Moira you can’t just go and say things like that! Those two were my responsibility the first time this happened! I can’t lose both of ‘em, damn it!”

Aubrey, Ned, and Duck were quiet while the others in the room seemed to talk over one another. They were new to this, none of them had any clue what was going on. Of course, they were concerned too. Out of the group, only Aubrey had seen Barclay genuinely upset. Even then it was more overwhelmed than angry. It was erie.

“Y’all aren’t making any sense, what’s with the vague shit?” Perhaps it came off a little stronger than he’d meant it too, but by the time Duck realized it was too late to take any of it back. 

Once again, the room fell silent. Time held its breath and a cold chill washed over the basement. This seemed to be the running theme of the day. That sudden quiet that was unsettling and whimsical at the same time. It was an unnatural feeling, that wave of silence. It happened too quickly and went away too slowly. 

Barclay let out a sigh and sat down at the table. The chair creaked. In any other situation that would be seen as a mild annoyance at the most, but here it was unnerving. Anything louder than a breath was unsettling really. Every moment that ticked by was another moment that time was lost.

The situation was tense, because of course it was. Someone had gone missing and now people were acting out of their normal personalities. It was difficult to deny the severity of the situation. Still, that didn’t warrant the never ending sort of silence the group was engulfed in. 

Speaking of engulfed, Aubrey’s palms were suddenly alight with fire. “Duck’s right. Explain, all three of you… um.” The blaze in her hands flickered,” please.”

“His name was Wybie,” Moira started.

“He ‘n Jake were like brothers…” continued Mama,” Then came the spring of ‘99. There was an abomination that was… tough. Sometimes all ‘a us thought the thing was a Sylph. Another ‘bomination was goin’ ‘round at the same time but, uh… Barclay. Maybe you should finish this story.”

Barclay sighed,” The kid was a clairvoyant. Kind of. He got, well, he called ‘em ‘glimpses’ of the future. People called him a Devil Dog-”

“I heard White Thing a few times.”

“Not important. Anyways, he saw something or other because he went off on his own ‘n Jake followed him. ‘Cus of course he did, the kids were practically inseparable. Jake came back teary eyed and beat half to hell, Wybie didn’t come back at all. On April fifteenth, 1999, Kepler got its worst spring snow storm in the towns history.”

Duck cut in,” I remember that storm! Back then I didn’t really care, but fuck man. That’s- that’s real shitty.”

“Story isn’t done there. Jake told us, after some prodding, that Wybie wasn’t- he wasn’t dead. He said that the thing just dragged him off, human form and all. Damn it! We searched for months, they were my responsibility! Mine and that damn Moth’s…”

“Moth?” Aubrey piped up,” As in the Mothman moth? Big scary black thing with bird wings? Gosh… I didn’t even think about Indrid working with the Pine Guard.”

“You know him? How in the he-”

“He lives in an illegally parked Winnebago.”

“Sounds like him,” Barclay grumbled,” Stayed at the Lodge for almost a year after the Silver Bridge thing and then darted. Can’t blame him, but I’m sure he knows what happened to Wybie. I’m sure he knows, and I know that he wasn’t any damn help.”

“I’m gonna call him.”

“Duck, my friend, why do you have Mr. Colds number, I wonder?”

“Just… Just in case. I don’t have to justify myself to you Ned! Fuck!”

Aubrey waggled her eyebrows suggestively as Duck sputtered. Despite the horror of the story they’d just been told, the three had a knack for making any situation more light hearted. It was needed in the moment. After the monsters and murders were done and out of the way… sometimes it was important to laugh. It was really important too, actually.

“Y’all…” Mama’s voice came as a warning.

“I’m just- fuck it ya’ know? I’m gonna- I’m gonna call Indrid-”

Duck did, in fact, call Indrid after that. He walked out of the lodge and skateboarded to the nearest payphone and called the mothman. Because that was just a very Duck thing to do, wasn’t it? Even if he wasn’t some sort of super human anymore, he was well, ambitious wasn’t quite the right word, determined maybe. If he had a plan or idea, there was a very small chance that someone could convince him not to do that thing. Fear was a pretty good motivator however, wasn’t it?

\------

“‘Use your skateboard to travel, you won’t get tired.’ Why can’t I just fuckin’,,, own a car? No, fuck, that’s a stupid question. I don’t even have a driver’s licence. God, it was a mistake to not learn how to drive…” he didn’t have to mutter to himself, but he was going to.

Skateboarding is really not the ideal mode of transportation. It was all he could do without paying way too much money through, and he didn’t plan on spending what mediocre pay he had on a fuckin’ four wheeler or something. Sure  _ skateboard _ didn’t fit his whole ‘kinda okay forest ranger’ thing but neither did _ four wheeler _ ! ‘Sides, some of those things needed real gasoline and he wasn’t too big on driving a gas powered plant crushing machine through a national forest. Ned was right, Duck really was just an almost hippie.

He groaned to himself and continued on the path out of the forest. It was hard to forget the fact that if he was still the chosen one or whatever he’d have gotten there so much quicker. Sure, yeah, okay, Duck was still more than a little bit bitter about all of that. As much as he didn’t blame Minerva for what happened, he had just started getting used to all of it. All he was now was a dipshit with a broken sword belt. 

Then he heard a scream. It wasn’t shrill or even very loud. Panicked if anything. Maybe, just maybe, his call to Indrid could wait a bit. 

All alone, Duck Newton heeded his call to action.  


	2. 100 Bad Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duck finds more than he bargained for,  
> The mothman returns,  
> Aubrey saves a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pay special attention to that Jake bit ;)

\----

Jake Coolice felt as though he was floating in a dark and inky void. Almost choking on nothing, no idea what was going on. Kind of, at least. Even through the nothingness he could make out… something. 

If that something was real or not, he didn’t know. Still… it was something.

Doubt, panic, and worry were the main things he could feel. Yelling,  _ screaming _ , at him to do something. In his state of panic, however, he just couldn’t. No matter how hard he tried. Getting through this, hell,  _ surviving _ this would be a matter of luck. 

\----

Duck wasn’t as nimble as he used to be, but that didn’t stop him from deciding to protect someone. There was a shrill screech in the direction he was running to. It wasn’t from the same voice as the scream, the pitch was higher and more animalistic. It was terrifying. He almost stopped in his tracks the moment he heard it. Damn it though, he was done being a coward. No more of that bullshit. Not today at least.

Darting from tree to tree, he found his way to a small clearing with a stream flowing through it. The scene wasn’t as peaceful and serine as it might be on any other occasion. In any other situation it might be beautiful, not now. Not after being trashed like it was. He noticed the uprooted tree before anything else. It was his job to notice those things, he couldn’t help it. Muddy stones, that probably should have been in the stream, were laying in several places on the grass.

Then he noticed the thing. That was an abomination alright. It was gangly and human like, but it seemed to be made of rotting plant matter. No, the more accurate explanation was that it seemed to be fungal. Moss, mushrooms, and mold covered the beast. What parts of it weren’t coated in fungi were black and wreaked of decay. The whole clearing was coated in that stench. 

Duck noticed Hollis after that. They were pinned to a tree, a sticky black material over their mouth and arms. That wasn’t good. While not quite unconscious, Hollis didn’t really seem aware. He also couldn’t help but pick up on the pale green colour of their skin. It was normally a tawny beige, and green wasn’t good in any person’s skin tone. 

He unsheathed Beacon and-

“ _ Duck New!!- _ ”

Duck flung his free hand over his mouth and shushed the sword, whispering,” Beacon shut your trap!... I’m not dying via. monster today!...”

Of course, it was too late to undo the damage Beacon had caused. Because of course it was! The thing had already turned to the tree Duck was hiding behind. It’s head moved so slow that he had no way to know what it was going to do next. In what was probably less than a second, the thing was, uh, on his ass. A large clawed hand stuck into the tree in front of him and Duck fell back. He swung Beacon wildly, not managing to hit the beast. 

Feeling a slight (read: intense) surge of panic, he scrambled to his feet with a forced breath. Beacon let out an indignant scoff as Duck raised the sword again. He cared a lot less about the giant murder monster and a lot more about the innocent(?) gang leader stuck against a tree. The green colour in their skin was only darkening, not in a sick way but more in… God how did you even describe that shit? 

Duck held his breath and then promptly ran away from the thing and at Hollis. His internal dialogue went something along the lines of ‘ _ Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck’  _ as he raced at them, Beacon in hand. He had absolutely no idea if this was going to work or not, but he didn’t really have a better plan. Trying to cut a substance he knew nothing about with his already damaged sword was a god awful plan. It was the only one he had through and he couldn’t turn back now, 

And then he tripped. He tripped and fell right down on the ground, Beacon flying into the tree Hollis was on. His eyes were the size of dinner plates as he rolled to his back and moved back against the tree. The tree smelled just as bad as the abomination did… in fact… it seemed to be rotting. Actively rotting, quickly, right behind him. Shit- like, fuck. He moved back and tugged Beacon out of the tree. 

Then the abomination ran at him, he barely had a moment to react. Shit! Duck ducked down to the ground, holding Beacon upwards. It worked- sort of. The blade stuck into the left leg of the thing. Instead of blood coming from the wound, a black viscous liquid poured from it. As the liquid hit the ground, it burned acidically before the plant life around it shriveled and decayed. He gagged, the scent overwhelming him. He took in a breath to avoid the smell and managed to get to his feet. 

Something… interesting happened after that. If interesting ment incredibly terrifying and scary as hell. There was the resounding sound of flapping wings, loud and echoing over the trees. There was a loud squawking sound that made his head spin. No… no that wasn’t what did it. Under the ear bleeding sound was something more sinister. It wasn’t sinister through, that was a human thing. That was certainly not human.

Underneath the squawk was a cascade of… whispers. Whispers were the only thing that he could place them as, but even in the moment he could tell that that  _ wasn’t _ what they were. Actual whispers did  _ not _ do what they did. Because these sounds weren’t ones that he could actually hear, they were all in his head. And they were telling him things.

_ ‘Run… run away from this place.’ _ said the whisper, a hundred voices blending into one, _ ’ Run like the coward you are.’ _

So Duck did.

Not before he saw the owner of the voices. It was, like the other thing in the clearing, an abomination. That was the only word for it. Almost pterodactyl like in appearance, but pitch black in colour. Some of the features seemed too human to belong to the creature. Maybe that was just because the thing seemed to be- glitching? There was a bright glow over the thing, but it was technicoloured and didn’t stay in the same place on its body for long.The features on its face seemed to shift ever so slightly with the colours, shape and tone changing one time or more in a moment.

It took Duck a moment to tune back into reality, too focused on the beast to realize what was going. When he did, through, he was instantly back on track. No longer caring for safety, but instead for survival, he grabbed one of Hollis’s hands and tugged. Thank God they came out of the gelatinous bonds relatively easily. Beacon still in hand, he hiked them up on his shoulder and ran for it.

The fungal creature screamed as the winged one swooped down. Duck was prepared to be impaled by a beak but then he… wasn’t. In fact, the first abomination was. It had noticed him, both of them had, but both were just a moment too late. The winged one had bought him a few seconds of time but… why? Weren’t both of them out to kill him? At that point he was too done with the whole situation to even fathom looking back. Even if he wasn’t, he still wouldn’t look back because  _ man _ that thing was awful.

Through the trees and back to the path, an unconscious and green Hollis on his back, Duck forced himself to find that payphone. He fished a quarter out of his pocket and dropped Beacon beside him (with little complaint) and let out a long breath. With one shaking hand, he reached out to the phone. And then it rang.

In that moment, Duck almost melted from his relief. Oh thank god. He picked up the phone, trying not to lose his grip on Hollis as he did. It was difficult to balance all of this while he was quivering. 

“Hello Duc-”

“Indrid! Thank shit! God Indrid some sh-”

“ -it just happened . Yes Duck Newton, I’m quite aware of what is going on at the moment. I’ll be up at the lodge waiting for you to return with your, er, friend there. There is roughly ten minutes before anyone notices me.”

So Duck trecked his way back to the lodge, Hollis still slung over his shoulder. The man was basically drenched in sweat by the time he got back. His previously discarded skateboard was tucked under one of his shoulders and Beacon was once again around his waist. Magic helmet still on his head, still shaking just a little bit. 

Evidently, he’d gotten there just a bit later than the time constraint Indrid gave him. Because when he got back the the Lodge there was the Mothman getting berated by a normal woman. Well, normal wasn’t a good way to describe Mama, she was human. She was also white in the knuckles and clutching her hat, which was scary for her.

Barclay was there too, but he was standing a distance away from Indrid. He noticed Duck before anyone else did. When he did, he came running. There was a bewildered expression on his face. Aubrey saw Barclay and followed on after him, Ned close behind her. 

“Is that Hollis?!” Aubrey managed to get the first word in.

“Who does it fuckin’ look like? Yeah it’s fuckin’ Hollis!”

Barclay was the next person to speak,” They’re… green. Why are they green?”

“I found an abomination! Two of ‘em!”

“Two of the-”

They were cut off by the other conversation. Mostly because it was quickly increasing in volume. Even if the conversation Duck was having was important, the other one drowned it out.

“MADELINE COBB YOU’RE GOING TO LISTEN TO ME!” Boomed Indrid, hands balled into fists.

A wave of silence washed over the yard. Duck, Aubrey, and Ned hadn’t heard the mild mannered man yell until that moment and they were, reasonably, taken aback. It didn’t help that Indrid had a terrifying yell. That wasn’t an exaggeration either, he seemed to be restraining himself by the way his voice came out in a hiss… but in the same breath he seemed to be letting go of all the anger he had. People screaming was generally not a very pleasant experience anyhow. Just even more so in that moment.

“What do you want Cold?”

“I am  _ trying _ to explain that to you! If you’d only list-”

“You had your chance to explain Cold! You could have explained twenty Goddamn years ago! The thing is ya’ didn’t! Why should I expect you to follow through this time?”

“Because,” Indrid took a very sharp breath,”  _ Because _ I’m here this time. You’re making things more difficult than they have to be.”

“Kiss my-”

“ _ Listen _ ,” Indrid hissed,” Twenty years ago I was in hiding because I was terrified Mama. Now, well… Now I’ve medelled too much to stop here. Let’s head to that basement of yours, hm? I do think that there are some more important matters to attend to. Wouldn’t you say so Duck?”

… Fuck.

\----

Aubrey was… stressed. That was a lot to dumb on a gal, wasn’t it? Er, Ducks story was in any case. Indrid hadn’t said so much as a word since they got down to the basement. Two bomboms? Was Hollis okay? She didn’t really give a shit about Hollis, but Jake seemed to care about them a lot. That was enough of a reason to worry. It was funny how empathy worked like that. 

“So let me get this straight: Big fungus guy is why Hollis is like… that?” She asked,” So what’s with the glitchy bird then?”

“That,” Barclay sighed,” Would be the one we fought twenty years ago.”

“I’m gonna kill it then!” 

“It ain’t that easy Aubrey. If it was, we’d have dealt with it the first time.”

Indrid let out a long breath,” Yes yes, that’s all fine and good. I assume you want to hear my little story, yeah?”

He was met with a few blank stares and a scoff from Mama. It seemed as though he took that as an opportunity to continue. 

“As Barclay and Moira- hello to Moira by the way- are probably very aware of, I fell more or less out of the abomination fighting scene after the… incident with Point Pleasant’s Silver Bridge. Things were getting too unpredictable and it cost people their lives. So, well, I fled.” He let out a forced laugh,” In fact: Wybie was there for all of that. He watched the bridge collapse. But that’s not what you care about, I’m aware. I’m very aware of what has been going on recently, but I’ve been… busy.”

“Cold-”

“Mama let Indrid talk. I don’t know what happened with y’all but what he’s sayin’ has some weight.”

“Thank you, Duck,” Indrid’s voice was pleasant but sharp,” As I was saying, there were some issues up in the northeast that I decided to attend to. Nothing too major, but certainly something to warrant my absence.”

This was all going way over Aubrey’s head. She didn’t get why Indrid and Mama seemed to be on such bad terms, but mostly she didn’t understand how all of this linked up. The bomboms weren’t human, so why would one care about returning twenty years after they did something? One of them was new, so why wouldn’t they both be? What if that dino thingy was just similar to the thing from two decades ago? More importantly: why was no one talking about Hollis?!

She decided she’d step in a little bit, if only to break up some of the tension,” Um… guys? I appreciate all the serious mumbo-jumbo but, um… Should I try to, like, heal Hollis or something?”

“Good idea Aubrey, why don’t you attempt to heal our green friend over there?”

“Thank you Ned!” Aubrey sighed gratefully.

She rose to her feet, stumbling over her numb legs, and hurried over to the unconscious Hornet. Sure it was like a really terrible idea to have them here, but they knew too much anyways. Oh also:  _ they’re green _ . When Aubrey went to touch them she realised that their skin felt wrong. Kind of like she’d imagine moss feeling like. Dr. Bonkers probably knew more about moss than she did though.

“Uegh-” a pause,” Duck you said they were stuck to a tree with some black… stuff?”

“Yeah. I think it might be the things blood or some shit? Kinda a destructive abomination, really.” 

“That’s- ew gross- that’s probably why Hollis is, um, green then, right?”

Duck just kinda shrugged. 

She groaned, rubbing her face and bumping her nose ring. Alright. So she was gonna try healing Hollis then. Aubrey could handle this, of course she could. It wasn’t like she was trying to bring someone back to life again. Right? They were still breathing, she wouldn’t bring someone back to life if they weren’t dead. Her thing was being a magician, not a necromancer. 

“Hey, um, magic,” she felt stupid about doing this in front of so many people, it didn’t matter that most of them were friends,” This is Hollis. Something happened to them and I really want to help them. Can you please help me do that? Thanks!”

She closed her eyes and focused, biting down on her bottom lip softly. Aubrey felt a swell in her chest and she honed her senses on that feeling. It tugged at her heart and she felt her hair move around as if wind was blowing at it. Hat amber eye of hers ached with a dull sort of pain, and she knew that it was working. Magic was hard for her to get a grasp on, healing was especially difficult for her. It did have its tells though, and for whatever reason her eye hurting was one of them. To be honest, she still didn’t have a complete grasp on that eye.

Her eyes suddenly flew open as a scream broke the silence that had fallen around her. She was in that place again. That woman was there again. Deputy Dewey wasn’t the other person in the sphere anymore, that was Hollis. Which didn’t make sense, because Hollis _ wasn’t _ dead and this had only ever happened before when she tried to heal Dewey. Who was dead. 

The woman beckoned to her, waving her forward. Aubrey rose to her feet, stance unsteady. She really hoped that she never got as used to this place as she was Sylvain. Glancing around at the images and places surrounding her, she took a step forward. Only part of her could comprehend the fact that Hollis was there, screaming and panicked. It was difficult to get a grasp on anything there.

“Hi Hollis,” she waved after a moment, eyes now trained on the woman. 

Around her eye, the skin was warm. She could tell that it was glowing even without seeing it. Her body couldn’t really decide if it wanted to be relaxed of not. Tense shoulders but a nervously tilted head. If the situation was less serious, her eyes would probably be called ‘puppy dog’. In the same moment, she felt both weak and powerful. It was an odd sensation. 

“What the fuck is happening?” Questioned Hollis, staring fearfully at their green body.

Aubrey sighed, voice soft and respectful,” I’m helping you… I hope.”

“What do you mean-”

They were cut off by the woman. Or… it was probably the woman. Wind, a calm, yet biting, wind ran through the air. A silent way to shush them. As if to say ‘ _ be respectful _ ’. That was all Aubrey could fathom being in this place. Respectful to the magic in it and the figure as well. 

She stepped closer to the woman once again, close enough to touch,” Hello again. Are you helping me this time, too? Thank you for saving Dewey.”

The air around her warmed, seeming to thank her. Despite the fact that the woman didn’t quite have normal features, she seemed to be smiling. That was enough for Aubrey. She smiled back. Of course, Hollis still seemed completely freaked out, but freaked out was better than dead. To fear was better than to submit to the things that cause it... or whatever. 

Okay, alright. She let out a breath and looked up at the figure. Then she very gently took the woman’s hand and felt the same swell of feeling she had the first time. That woman… who was she? Seriously, Aubrey was almost positive that she knew her. 

The woman squeezed her hand turning to face Hollis. Then, in a fluid motion, she grabbed Hollis’s wrist. For a brief moment, Aubrey felt an intense flash of panic and gasped. She forced her eyes shut, reassuring herself that everything was fine. After a moment, the constant feeling of positivity had returned. Since the woman seemed so pleased Aubrey wondered had- had she done that.

Her eyes opened just in time to see the woman open hers. Just like before… her eyes were a bright orange, glowing. Aubrey could feel her eye doing the same, more intense that it had been.

\----

She sat up with a start, still on the floor of the basement. Breath uneven and eye still visibly glowing, she clambered to her feet. Around her, six people stared with wide eyes. Aubrey blinked, desperately trying to get the glow to die down. Not even because it hurt or anything, it was just hard to see behind a glow and her depth perception already black. 

“Did- did it work?” 

Duck blanched,” Holy shit Aubrey- look for yourself.”

“What the fuck?...”

Aubrey spun on her heels because that was Hollis’s voice for sure. What she saw was… not what she was expecting. That was Hollis alright. It was just, um, they were still green. Even more green. Just not about-to-die-because-of-a-bombom green. Like a healthy grass green.

They also had pointy ears… And fangs. Was that a flower growing out of their palm? Why was there a flower growing out of their palm?! She didn’t do that, right? Right?

“Well Aubrey Little,” Indrid said in a mild mannered tone,” This is… certainly not the outcome I had predicted.”

He paused for a moment, smirking.

“It appears as though you’ve made this human into a Sylph!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Duck’s roll to silence Beacon: 7  
> Duck’s roll to get back to his feet: 10  
> (These were random rolls done for the sake of it)  
> Duck’s roll to cut the black goo: 4  
> Ducks’ roll to hit slash through the abomination: 8  
> Duck’s roll to resist the sound: 6  
> Roll for Mothman: 12!!  
> Aubrey’s roll to heal Hollis: 12 (I got the 12s on different days)  
> Guess who rewatched that big magic bit with Aubrey like seven times while writing the Hollis bit? (It’s me bih)


	3. Hurrier Behinder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mistakes are made, panic rises, and the word 'what' is all too common.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so fuckin' long. I went through a bout of some serious writers block. I hope you like this chapter. I wish it was longer, but schools still got me a little burnt out.   
> Happy IDAHTB by the way. That's International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia for those of y'all who didn't know. it's also minecrafts 10 year anniversary!   
> In other news, this chapter was brought to you by Cough Syrup by The Young Giant, She by Dodie Clark, and Good Kid from the Lightning Thief musical. I don't know how clear those influences are, but they're there.

“What the hell?!” yelped Aubrey, finally processing the situation,” Indrid I don’t mean to be like,,, that person but how do you know that they’re a Sylph?”

“Isn’t it obvious? An abomination is a creature of madness, it’s of the Quell, one wouldn’t produce something that gives life. That does raise the question of how you did it, however.”

Aubrey took a deep breath, mind running a million miles a second. How would she have even done this? It was- it was different with Dewey, Dewey was dead. Hollis was. Not. They were visibly very alive. Green and flowery, but alive. In fact, they were technically more alive than they had been before!

“Is anyone going to tell me what in the hell is going on here?” They asked, still looking pretty aptly horrified.

The people in the basement looked around at each other, none of them saying a word. Aubrey let out a very jittery laugh, swiveling around to face them. The expression on her face begged for help but no one did. She took a deep breath and bit down on her lip. Then she made the split second decision to light her hands on fire.

“So. Um. One of those monster things that we fight… got you?” She shook the flames out of her hands. “And I helped. I’ve only pulled this stunt once though and It was under way different circumstances.”

“ _ You’ve done this before? _ ”

“Yeah. Anywho. You’re kinda a monster now! Like the good kind though!”

Hollis looked like a deer caught in the headlights, pressing against a wall. They were on the taller side and compressing like that made them seem much, much smaller. Aubrey wasn’t completely sure that she could sympathize with them, but at least she could say that she tried. It was probably a terrifying experience, having your identity ripped out from under you. When she looked back at the others, Duck had this erie look of recognition on his face. 

She hadn’t been expecting this and now she was panicking for just that reason. God, this was so much worse than Hollis dying. As selfish and bad as that was, they wouldn’t be a literal plant thing if they were dead! Why did she keep going back to the death thing? No one was dead, no one was going to die. It was fine.

“Well, uh,” Duck cleared his throat,” This is… somethin’ different.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Mama grumbled,” Cold, can you still-”   
“Make disguises? I wouldn’t look like this if I couldn’t Madeline.” 

“So!! Hollis!” Aubrey yelped, whipping back around to face them,” This is probably really weird! You’re, like, green now.”

“I noticed. Yeah.” The look on their face was cold enough to make her shiver,” You know, when I asked for an explanation I expected an actual explanation, not whatever this is.”

For what felt like the hundredth time, Aubrey glanced back at the other people in the room. None of them were doing anything, because of course they weren’t. She was pretty sure that every person in that place was at about a decade older than her, because she was only twenty four. Duck was like, in his forties or something and he was the second youngest (probably). 

* * *

“Yeah, I’m gonna take it from here Aubrey,” Duck said, letting out a puff of breath,” Look kid-”

“I’m not a kid!-”

“Not the point, I’ve got a few years on ya’. Shit looks really bad right now, but uh… yeah. I know we haven’t exactly seen eye to eye on this whole abomination thing in the past. But. Things are worse than ever now, and we’re technically in charge of all that shit. So one of those things did something or other to you and evidently you were dying. So Aubrey did some big magic thing. Now you’re a plant.”

Hollis seemed slightly more satisfied with that explanation. They struggled to their feet, eyes hard and showing no emotion. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like they were very aware of how light they were. Because Duck saw them stumble forward a little bit, eyes widening for just a moment. He wondered if that was how Syphs felt while disguised. It was probably weird having your entire weight, height, or whatever else altered.

He could sympathize with that idea of suddenly losing a bunch of strength. Not to be that guy, buy he’d lived that situation not too long ago. Obviously, it wasn’t under the same circumstances at all. Magic bullshit happened to him that took away a lot of who he was. Under that tough guy (tough person?) face, he could tell that Hollis was every bit as scared as Duck would have been.

“Where’s my bike?” they asked suddenly, stopping in their tracks.

“What?”

“ _ Where’s my bike _ ?”

Duck hesitated,” Didn’t see it when I was around the place I found ya’.”

“God  _ Damn IT _ .”

Hollis promptly barreled through the small crowd and out the basement door. This was bad for three reasons. One: the Hornets were aggressive to anything that didn’t seem human. Two: Hollis was the leader of the Hornets. Three: Hollis was  _ green _ . 

Indrid reacted before any of them did. It must have been a pretty prominent thing in the future because he was headed to the door before Hollis was even out. It didn’t exactly make a difference, however, because Indrid wasn’t quite the fastest of the bunch. Even so, it shook everyone else out of their shock. When he got out of the door, Aubrey followed quickly in suit. 

Duck groaned internally and exited after them. Ned didn’t move at all until Barclay smacked him across the back of the head. Not hard, obviously, but enough to get him going. It didn’t take the group long to be hurtling after Hollis. It was obvious to tell who was in the lead by the shouting from a young voice.

“I’m gonna torch them! I’m gonna torch them just like I was gonna torch Keith!”

“No you won’t Aubrey Little.”

“Shut up Manmoth!”

No sooner did it take for them to get to a clearing that wasn’t the Lodge’s did the group find Hollis on the ground. They were tugging at the grass and a ring of purple petunias hung limply around their neck. Now Duck needed to sharpen up with the whole flower language thing, but he was pretty certain that they meant anger or something? Not only that, but they were almost black, like legitimately darker than he’d ever seen one of the flowers in nature. It was weird, creepy. The sun was setting, which didn’t help. 

No one approached Hollis. Not even when they tried to get to their feet. It wasn’t like they were gonna run, they didn’t even manage to stand. They got half way up before falling forward. That didn’t stop them from trying again. Two more times, actually, before they gave up.

* * *

 

“One of you is going to fix me, got it?” Hollis cringed at the slight waver in their voice.

They were pitiful like this. Absolutely, irrevocably pitiful. Sprouting flowers like they were some fairy princess and unable to stand. How much more fucking ridiculous could they look? They were one of those _ things _ that had killed people they cared about now, right? So why didn’t they feel like it? If they were really one of those things, they should have been manic or psychotic or… or something! 

“Oh absolutely!” said the one with the rose tinted glasses,” Or, not ‘fix’ per se, more… ah, how to say this: make you appear human again.” 

The voice didn’t match the body, it was too pleasant, pinker than they’d imagined someone like that to sound. Salmon maybe? It was too peachy to be pink. That’s- yeah, salmon works. Hollis swore under their breath, thanking whatever was listening that they hadn’t said that aloud. Synesthesia, that’s what people called it. 

They glared up at the person with glasses, eyebrow cocked. Aubrey Little (they knew that name well enough at that point to hate it) stood next to them. They were too unsure of all these peoples pronouns.

They opened their mouth to speak but were quickly cut off by the one with glasses,” Right, yes, you’ll have to forgive us! I’m afraid some of us aren’t the most well versed in saying all of that sort of thing. Cultural differences, I suppose.”

Then that person went through and set the pronoun game straight. Hollis wanted to be pissed off but they really just couldn’t be mad at people being respectful. They had met Mama and Barclay before, as well as Ned, Aubrey, and Duck. Indrid Cold (he/him) was the one with the glasses and Moira (she/her) was the, er, ghost. She was a ghost, right? Being translucent and floaty read as pretty ghost-y to them. 

“Okay. Yeah. That’s all fine and good I guess, but uh, you,” they pointed at Indrid,” said you could fix this shit, right?”

“I said I could make you look human.”

“That is... That’s- listen, that’s good enough for me, honestly. I have a crew that’s probably waitin’ for- nah actually. It’s like, almost midnight. They’re all probably home.”

Hollis rubbed the bridge of their nose and sighed. They were dimly aware of the fact that even more flowers seemed to be blooming on their body. It didn’t hurt at all, so their mind didn’t have a reason to focus on it. It was dark, like, real dark, and part of them wanted to just… go home. Not like this, through.

“Hey Hollis?” that was Aubrey’s voice, it was fire orange and easy to recognise,” You, uh, you wanna stay at the Lodge tonight? I know we aren’t friends or whatever, but like, you should probably… not walk around town all green and stuff.”

Hollis forced themselves to their feet well enough to stay standing this time,” Yeah, whatever. Sure.”

“Along the lines of staying the night! Mama,” that was Indrid speaking,” I made my way here on relatively short notice and did not bring my winnebago with me, might I stay in the Lodge as well?”

“Sure Cold, alright. It’s fuckin’ late though, and this mess is gonna give me an aneurysm. Let’s head back to the Lodge. Of course. Of course.”

“Well friends!” the way Ned talked was more telling than the colour,” This was certainly an interesting day!”

* * *

 

It was 1999, the sun was shining brightly against the lush grass of Amnesty Lodge. The spring had been warm that year, giving ample time for the residents to recover. From what some might ask? Snowstorms, mostly, maybe something more. Heavy storms had trashed a handful of homes and other places in the town. A lot of the old hotels fared badly over the winter.

Amnesty Lodge, however, had come out mostly unscathed. There had still been a few spots where it had gotten damaged, but not all of that was the fault of the snow. Frozen pipes and rusted door knobs could all be fixed with relative ease. 

The skateboard that went through the wall, though…

“Jake! How did you even do this?” a girl with freckles and blonde hair was staring, absolutely dumbfounded, at the neon pink skateboard sticking in next to a window.

“I crashed! How do you think I did it?” yelled back a male, equally blonde. 

“This is a log cabin! You crashed through logs!”

“Yeah, well I-”

Then there was a crashing sound. Followed by a few more crashing sounds. And… was that panting? There was a gust of wind that rocketed through the room, and suddenly the air was less panicked and more excited. With one final crash, someone tumbled down the last step. Of course, he then popped right to his feet.

“ _ You _ !” he pointed to the girl,” Dani you owe me fifteen bucks!”

“The two of you bet on me crashing?-”

“Wybie! I thought you forgot about that!”

“The Devil Dog never forgets anything!”

The group paused for a good moment before looking around at each other. Despite some efforts from the three of them to remain stern or angry… there was no way that they were actually going to maintain composure. It only took the guys locking eyes for a moment before they all three burst into laughter. Now, this wasn’t uncommon for them, not really, the three of them (and one other, but momo -as in the Missouri Monster- was off on business) were the terrors of the Lodge. If running and joking around make them terrors, really. 

“Since when did you actually call yourself the Devil Dog, Wybie?” Dani asked, a laugh still in her tone.

“I dunno. It’s cooler than Wybie is.”

“I don’t mean to kill the vibe, broski’s, but my board is still in the wall. Which is… not rad.” Jake just sort of gestured to all of the mess in front of them, frustration visible in his motions.

Dani rolled her eyes, leaning down and bonking her shoulder against his. It was a habit, and old habits die hard. The lot of them had been together for a long time, they’d gotten the rights to have some inside jokes and handshakes. That’s just how friends were. Being just about as tight knit as three people could be, they’d survived through thick and thin. Surviving Mama’s wrath at board wall would just be one more of those things. Hijinx! Who knows, maybe they’d keep Board Wall. A moment for the stupid shit they got into. Momo’d love it when they got back. Explaining it would be fun, even more so from the perspective of someone who’d just earned himself fifteen bucks.

“We’ll buy you a new board.”

“With the fifteen bucks  _ I’m  _ owed!”

* * *

 

“We’re gathered here today to explain what the fuck is going on,” Aubrey slammed her hand on the basement table as if it were a gavel. Of course, she instantly recoiled because that was hard maple and it hurt.

Hollis was standing around the edge of the table, surrounded in such a way that it seemed almost like they were standing before a counsel. Like the group was about to pass judgment on them. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, not by a long shot, but it was also a feeling that they’d had before. They’d gotten in trouble before. Keith was the sheriff's kid, which meant they’d never gotten in  _ big _ trouble. Still, it didn’t feel great.

Duck groaned and looked over at them,” Forgive us ‘bout her. Aubrey’s a flame alright. So, you said you wanted to know everythin’, yeah?”

“I’d like to know more about why I’m green than ‘Aubrey fucked up’ and ‘you’re a monster now’. Yeah.”

Seeming a bit uncomfortable, Duck backed off. The lot of them exchanged glances for a moment before Mama moved up to bat. How much did she know about this? How long? As long as they knew Jake? Longer?

“Well, Hollis. I’m not sure where to start with this. Uh, first thing’s first, I guess. We’re-” she gestured to the other people in the room-” We’re called the Pine Guard. We go out and protect these here parts from monsters. You knew about that, through, I’m sure. At least the monster huntin’ part. Hollis, not all of us here are human. I am, so are Duck, Ned, n’ Aubrey.”

She paused for a moment, looking over to Barclay,” You sure y’all’re good with this?”

“It’s your call Mama.”

“The rest of us are from a place called Sylvain. They wear disguises that make ‘em look human- but they really ain’t. That place, Sylvain and the Slyphs that live there, it’s parallel to our world. Magic and all that. There’s a thing called the Quell that’s slowly makin’ it… die.”

“She, Mama. Sylvain is a She,” Aubrey cut in.

“Right. She’s dyin’. That’s what them monsters are from, the abominations. At least we think so. They’re from the Quell. For your situation… well I ain’t sure how to explain it. Aubrey did somethin’ or another and now you… seem to be a Slyph.” 

Hollis kind of just stood there for a while after that. It was a lot to absorb in such a short amount of time. So, they were definitely not human anymore, that wasn’t up for debate. In some ways though, it really didn’t shock them that there were people in this place that weren’t human. Not in a bad way, but uh… there was a ghost. Which seemed pretty not-human to them.

Leaning back against a wall, they let out a long breath. It wasn’t quite clear to even them if it was suppressing something or not. Emotions were weird like that, weren’t they? They just kind of crept up on someone, sometimes. Hollis raked a hand through their hair, less than pleased about the fact that their hair no longer felt… right. 

“Oh!” that was the guy with the with the pink voice, Indrid,” Can- ah, no. I’ve misspoken. On that note, however, I finished the disguise. I didn’t have much to go off of, but I do think that it’ll prove to look quite like the hornet’s original appearance. I must say, I did add a bit of my own flair to it!”

He brandished a bright yellow survival bracelet, waving the thing above his head. It was simple enough, literally just one of those paracord survival bracelets, just yellow. There might have been a bit of black, it was hard to tell. Indrid was too far away for their eyes to focus quite right.

“And I just… put it on?”

“That would be how it works, yes!”

After they were handed the bracelet, they slipped it on their right wrist (left handed problems) and waited for something to happen. They didn’t have to wait long. No sooner than when they’d put it on their wrist did they feel a change. Human. At least they were as heavy as a human, everything still felt a bit spongy. When they looked down at themselves, they saw just that. It was them, alright. There were a handful of differences though. Namely the fact that there were tattoos snaking up their arms. They weren’t full sleeves, not by any means. Just vines, curling around their arms. Bees were resting on some of the leaves. It, uh, was good. 

“Thanks.” they muttered gruffly.

Since good things never lasted forever, there was a crash from the Lodge. It was directly followed by a sort of strangled sob. The expressions everyone else wore told them that they weren’t just making up the sound. Aubrey seemed particularly worried, not that Hollis cared all that much. 

Her leading a charge up the stairs with no second thought kind of proved that, though. Where she went, the rest of the group followed. Holli themselves sort of lagged behind, getting up the stairs a moment or two after the rest of them. They recognized Dani in the lobby. Then they saw the shattered glass in front of her and the expression she had. That wild, panicked look in her eyes.

“Dani!” Aubrey yelped, barreling to her without even trying to avoid the glass, she picked Dani up despite the fact that she was a number of inches shorter than the blonde,” Dani holy hell, what happened?” 

“It’s really back huh?...”

* * *

Dani felt completely dazed, barely processing the fact she was being picked up. She did know that it was Aubrey, just because of the warmth of her skin. She bit down on her lip, hard. This was a lot, she didn’t want to accept it.

“I heard it. God, I haven’t even thought about that thing since ‘99. Not until yesterday. Now I heard it again?”

The scene went into focus and she was dimly aware of all the people there. She recognised Indrid. It was a new disguise but the same thing. Had she not been so out of it, she’d have strangled him for abandoning them. Ned and Duck were there. They’d been over more often, recently, so that wasn’t really a shock. And… Then she saw Hollis. 

Her eyes narrowed and she hopped down from Aubrey’s hold,” What the fuck are they doing here?”

“Dani, look, a lot has been going on behind the scenes recently, Hollis was at the wrong place at the wrong time and now-” Aubrey was trying her best to explain but Dani was not listening. 

She walked straight up to them, took them by the collar, and lifted them. Now, she didn’t like to brag on it- but she was tall. Not quite as tall as them, but her arms were long enough for her to get them on their toes. There was a pang in her chest as she ignored the panic in their eyes. They had some serious explaining to do, She’d been waiting for it for years.

Someone grabbed her shoulder, another person shouting her name. There wasn’t a single part of her who cared at that moment. Her knuckles were white against Hollis’s shirt and her heart was pounding in her ears. God they pissed her off.

“Do you have any idea the damage you caused here? How  _ dare _ you even  _ think _ about coming here! Why are you here?” 

“You don’t understand-”

“I don’t  _ need _ your excuses! I need you to answer me! Do you have any idea what you did to Jake? Now he’s gone and suddenly you show up again for the first time in three years!”

Hollis struggled against her for a moment, then their eyes went very wide,” Wait… Jake’s gone?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah! That was fun. As always, please, please, leave comments and such telling me what you think of this fic!


End file.
